Richard A. Ford

Richard A. Ford is Nat's father who flees with his Nat's mother and is arrested. Nat never searches for his father because he believes Nathan's fear that he will just be disappointed.

Nat Bates

Nathan Bates, also known as Nat, is one of this novel’s protagonists and main characters. Born in 1960, Nat’s mother abandoned him in the woods, and this largely shapes his self-perception throughout the novel. While hunting in 1960, Nathan McCann finds an abandoned infant who he rushes to the hospital, and though Nathan hopes to adopt the baby, the infant’s grandmother takes custody, naming him after Nathan and promising to introduce the two once the child is older. Nat is generally a happy child, and though he wonders about his parents, he refrains from questioning Gamma since it makes her sad. While spending the night with a friend, Nat overhears adults...